Why Do We Need to Know God’s True Name?

Do you know the true name of God? You will be surprised but knowing His true name reveals His true nature, which helps us build a closer relationship with Him and appreciate His divine nature. In this post, let me explain to you the importance of knowing God’s true name.

My dear readers, what is the importance of knowing and using the true name of Yahweh? Is it really crucial to the point that we go a great length to research and find the truth? Or are we simply free to ignore it and use titles instead?

My beloved readers, in this blog post, I would like to explain to you why it is important for us to know and use the true name of God.

Is it important to know God’s true name?

An important life lesson about knowing a person’s name

To illustrate the value of God’s true name, let me tell you about my personal experience.

When I was in the final year of High School, we moved to Dasmarinas City. As a transferee and new student, I don’t have close friends. I tried to make a few but to no avail.

You see, people who are in and around the National Capital Region have a superiority complex. Now, please don’t get me wrong, I’m talking in general here. People in that place kind of look down on people who are from the south.

For the first time in my life, I hated to go to school. It was like a living hell for me. Some of my classmates were bullies. On day 1, they already gave me a nickname – “bay”. From then on, they don’t call me with my first name. Even my teachers call me bay. They thought it was funny and only appropriate since I’m from Davao.

In my entire 4th year of high school, they all call me Bay except for one person. His name is Jed. I could never forget his name. Every time he calls me by my first name, Joshua, it sounded so sweet. I’m not sure, but it gives a sigh of relief, it makes me feel welcomed and recognized.

At that time, I realized the great importance of knowing a person’s name. Now, here’s a social communication technique that I can teach you. If you want to make people like you or start a closer relationship with them, call them by their first name.

I always do this as much as possible. When I play basketball, I make it a point to know the name of my playmates. By the next time we meet, I can confidently call them and you would know there’s a deeper connection there.

In our subdivision, I ask for the names of our security guards. You will notice the difference of calling them “Chief” from calling them with their first name.

God calls us by our name

The same is true with our relationship with our Heavenly Father. Isaiah 43:1 tells us:

But now, thus says Yahweh, who created you, O Jacob, and He who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; You are Mine.”

John 10:2-3 also mentions, “But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.”

God knows our name and in Psalm 147:4, He even calls the stars by name!

God has a name

So, why then, a lot of people in the Christian world and even in the Churches of God dismiss the importance of knowing and using the true name of Yahweh?

One word: tradition.

We have been taught that God’s name isn’t important. It has been a tradition for us to quickly dismiss any discussion about God’s true name by simply saying, “Its correct pronunciation has been lost.”

“We don’t see any indication that the true name was used in the New Testament.”

“Oh, the New Testament has been written in Greek, so we are free to use what the Greek Manuscripts said.”

Well, in Matthew 6:9, when Yahshua was teaching His disciples how to pray, what did He say?

He said, Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your Name.

What does it mean to hallow God’s name? It means to set apart, to consecrate, to consider as sacred.

How can you hallow or make His name holy if you don’t even know it?

In Exodus 20:7 tells us:

“You shall not take the name of YAHWEH your Elohim in vain; for YAHWEH will not leave unpunished the one who takes His name in vain.”

How can you properly follow this commandment if you don’t know the true name of our Heavenly Father? It is worth noting that the name Yahweh appeared in the Bible for more than 5,500 times. You compare that with the word “God” which only appears around 3,000 times.

Now, tell me why would our Father put it there if it wasn’t important?

Notice Psalm 83:13-18:

O my God, make them like the whirling dust, Like the chaff before the wind! As the fire burns the woods, and as the flame sets the mountains on fire, So pursue them with Your tempest, And frighten them with Your storm. Fill their faces with shame, That they may seek Your name, O Yahweh. Let them be confounded and dismayed forever; Yes, let them be put to shame and perish, That they may know that You, whose name alone is the Yahweh, are the Most High over all the earth.

If God’s true name isn’t important, then why do we see a lot of scriptures showing that He indeed has a name. Let me read to you a few scriptures:

Deuteronomy 28:58-59:

“If you do not carefully observe all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and awesome name, YAHWEH YOUR GOD, then YAHWEH will bring upon you and your descendants extraordinary plagues—great and prolonged plagues—and serious and prolonged sicknesses.

Psalm 92:1-2:

It is good to give thanks to Yahweh, and to sing praises to Your name, O Most High; To declare Your lovingkindness in the morning, And Your faithfulness every night.

Isaiah 42:8:

I am the Yahweh, that is My name; And My glory I will not give to another, Nor My praise to carved images.

Amos 5:8:

He who made the Pleiades and Orion and changes deep darkness into morning, Who also darkens day into night, Who calls for the waters of the sea And pours them out on the surface of the earth, Yahweh is His name. (compare Amos 9:6)

Jeremiah 31:35:

Thus says Yahweh, who gives the sun for light by day and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar; Yahweh of hosts is His name.

Forgetting God’s name is forgetting His true nature

God has a name and that name is YAHWEH. There is no divine authorization for the Bible translators to replace YAHWEH with LORD. Thus, we must be careful when we read the Bible. The name YAHWEH means the self-existent One, the Eternal One, The One who was, who is, and who is to come.

Replacing Yahweh with LORD dilutesthe meaning of God’s identity. It hides the awesome, magnificent, and majestic nature of God. By reducing his name to LORD, we are actually weakening its profound meaning.

Yes, we can call the true God as Abba, Father, but every Father has a name. Can you imagine having a close relationship with your spouse or friend and don’t even know their name? That’s silly, right?

If you see my wife and ask me her name, wouldn’t it be weird if I say, “I don’t know her name. But she’s my wife.”

Knowing God’s true name unlocks the deeper understanding of His nature. Not only that, but we get a deeper understanding of the Bible every time we read His name. We get to know what He did in the past, what was His role, how He dealt with people in the olden times, and how He is dealing with us right now.

In short, when we know God’s name, we develop a close relationship with Him.

Knowing God’s name is just the beginning

Now, don’t get me wrong. It is not enough to know His true name. In fact, it is just among the initial steps of TRULY knowing the true God.

Let me end this message with a profound statement found in John 17:3:

“And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”

What is eternal life? Yahshua Himself said that it is knowing the true God and Himself. Our salvation crucially lies on our level of knowing our Heavenly Father and His Son.

May we not forget and underestimate the importance of knowing God’s true name and knowing Him even deeper in each passing day.

I am familiar with the quotes of John 17:6 and 17:26 that you mention, and yes YAHWEH is mentioned 5000+ times, so Yahshua’s followers would already be familiar with the name, so why would He need to manifest the name if they already know it? Unless, the name He revealed to them is something other than YAHWEH. In mainstream christianity, YAHWEH of the old testament is the Father of Yashua, however gnostic christians do not agree. They say that YAHWEH whom they say is a God who is jealous, revengeful and prone to bouts of anger, cannot be the same personage as God the Father whom Yashua preached about who is a God of forgiveness and love. They simply cannot reconcile the two and say that Yashua’s mission was to manifest God the Father as the true God and YAHWEH of he old testament was a lesser personage, a “demiurge”, and that, (they say), is the meaning of John 17:6 and 17:26.

Truth be told, I too have a hard time reconciling the two and pray constantly to the Father for understanding.

Personally, I believe Yahshua is just reinforcing to His disciples the true name of Yahweh to them.

People get the wrong idea that the OT God is harsh because they don’t get a context of the real situation in the ancient times.

For one, God or Yahweh is actually mercifully when He commanded to kill people or for HIm to kill them right there and then. God is fulfilling a greater purpose.

In this infinite wisdom, He knows that it is better for an entire group of people to die rather than continue in their miserable and sinful life.

Since He is the giver of life, He has the prerogative to require it. There’s a resurrection of the dead and that time, God will use His saints to teach these people and give them a chance to salvation.

I know this is a huge topic, Mark, but I am confident that God knows exactly what He is doing and I have faith that it is for our own good and the good of the entire world.